In 2020, she earned a $5,000 grant from the Society for Science that allowed her to provide each student with hands - on science activities while they learned from home during the height of the COVID - 19 pandemic. At the end of every class, she pulls up Google Maps, with its street - view capabilities, and lets students pick a place they want to explore. Willis works to get her students excited about learning and the world. “I think that’s what has helped my success as a teacher and getting my students to be great learners.” “Mississippi State prepared me to recognize that my students are all different types of learners who need to be taught in different ways,” Willis said. Willis said she sometimes has to explain things in both languages to get the concept across, but no matter how she has to teach it, it’s rewarding when a student who has be en struggling begins to understand. She explained that teaching at a tribal school means many of the students come from homes where the Choctaw lan guage is what’s spoken, which can make switching to English for school challenging. My MSU courses also taught me to be flexible within my classroom,” Willis continued.
“It also helped me learn about myself, like if I don’t unders tand this, then I can’t help my kids understand it either. “It helped me understand a lot about how kids learn and that I need to take that into account when planning my lessons,” Willis said. Another eye - opening concept was that not every student will learn in the same way or at the same pace and that a teacher needs to accommodate that. She said the curriculum’s focus on establishing and maintaining mutual respect with her students was one of the key lessons that stuck with her. Willis said Mississippi State further fueled that passion for service as she moved deeper into her u ndergraduate education. She showed me that she cared and that’s what made me begin to think that I wanted to be of service to others.”
“My teacher, Karla Russell, saw how upset I was, pulled me aside and fixed my hair how I wanted it. “I remember going to school one day and being so upset,” Willis said, explaining that her father - who raised her as a single parent - wasn’t the best at fixing her hair. She explained that having a teacher “just be there” f or her really made an impression. Having earn ed her degree in 2019, Willis is now a science teacher for fourth through eighth grades at Tucker Elementary School in Philadelphia, the same school where her desire to serve others began years earlier.
It’s the kids all around me, in my community and my tribe, they’re my reason for doing everything.” And I don’t just mean my biological children, I mean my nieces, nephews, cousins and all my school babies, of course. “My kids are my rea son for doing all of this. “The tribe’s teacher initiative is what allowed me to become a teacher, and teaching is my way of giving back to my tribe,” explained Willis, who now has four children with her husband Poncho.
#Graduation pictorial full
Willis soon enrolled in the Division of Education at MSU - Meridian with a full scholarship from the Teacher Initiative Program, which enabled her to p ursue a bachelor’s in elementary education. A chance e ncounter with the program director of the Choctaw Tribal Scholarship program gave that idea a way forward. The urging of her principal gave her the idea of going back to school. Then, her extended tribal family did its work. That desire led her to an associate degree and into a classroom as an assistant teacher. “I’m so thankful for my tribe.”Īs a new mother in 2009, Willis said her goal was simpl y to find a job to support her family. “My tribe has done everything to support me,” Willis said. Without that family, she says she might never have become part of MSU’s. For her, it’s something that stretches beyond those who share her household to include the whole Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. STARKVILLE, Miss.- As hland “Coby” Willis knows a thing or two about family. Story by Camille Carskdon, MSU College of Education
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